Mike Moatshttps://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com
Tiny Landscapes - Pro Macro PhotographerFri, 09 Dec 2016 12:18:12 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/https://s2.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.pngMike Moatshttps://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com
Macro Photographers Can Be More Creativehttps://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2016/12/09/macro-photographers-can-be-more-creative-9/
https://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2016/12/09/macro-photographers-can-be-more-creative-9/#commentsFri, 09 Dec 2016 11:27:56 +0000http://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/?p=22478]]>There are a lot of reasons why I like macro nature photography. We have tons of subjects to shoot close to home, subjects change through out the season, we control the light, you can get by with just one lens if you’re on a limited budget. Another advantage we have as macro photographers is that we can be more artistic. We can create abstracts with the subjects we shoot and also have the ability to create interesting artwork using the shallow depth of field. Sure landscape photographers can do some motion blurs and swirl the camera for a few interesting effects, but they can’t come close to the artistic options we have a macro photographers.

We can create interesting abstract like this one which is dew on top of a mushroom.

Or how about some cool abstracts in ice. Let’s see a landscape photographer or wildlife photographer do this.

We can take simple subjects like this Dandelion and create artistic images with shallow depth of field.

How about some Monet

Create art with rain drops in a pine tree.

Sand on a Beach.

Feather on the Beach.

We have unlimited opportunity to create great artwork with macro, so go be creative.

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]]>https://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2016/12/08/winterspring-2017-workshops/feed/0Mike MoatsCopying Other Photographershttps://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2016/12/08/copying-other-photographers/
https://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2016/12/08/copying-other-photographers/#respondThu, 08 Dec 2016 10:53:09 +0000http://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/?p=22454]]>In my Macro Boot Camps I teach and give examples of how to shoot many different subjects, and how to compose them in the frame. This is designed to give them ideas if they are not artistic enough to do it on their own.

Many of the photographers in these workshops will say I don’t want to copy what you are doing. I understand that feeling, as some view it as stealing someone else ideas.

Well guess what, it’s been happening since photography books first appeared of national parks and places that we travel to shoot. How many times have you seen photographer’s images that copied the images shot by Ansel Adams of Yosemite from his prints and books. People try and find the exact location where Ansel set up his tripod so they can duplicate the same shot.

We all copy at some point in time when we shoot. We copy subject matter we see other photographers shoot, and sometime even copy the exact composition of a subject.

We all start out copying some photographer’s work we like, but at some point we should try and develop our own style and look.

]]>https://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2016/12/07/gear-of-the-year-tamron-90mm-macro-lens/feed/1Mike Moatsaff004c700Copyright Infringementhttps://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2016/12/07/copyright-infringement/
https://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2016/12/07/copyright-infringement/#commentsWed, 07 Dec 2016 10:06:05 +0000http://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/?p=22437]]>After my post yesterday talking about how I don’t like to clutter up my images with a watermark, and that a watermark is not a guarantee that it will stop someone from stealing my image, there was some discussion on the theft of images and copyright infringement.

Photographers get very upset when someone uses their image without permision. Copyright infringement is not only happening to you and me, it happens in the music business, the movie business, and knock offs of products sold on the street of major cities.

Let’s get real, we all have, or know of someone that has rented a movie and made a copy for themselves to view later for free. Made copies of a music CD and passed it on to friends or family members. Napster gave away millions and millions of free music downloads right out in the open for everyone to see, and it took the music industry tons of money and lawsuits to finally stop it.

My wife told me of knock offs of high end purses and watches being sold right out in the open on the streets in New York when she visited there a few years ago.

This is all copyright infringement, but yet good honest people doing the infringements don’t really think they are doing anything wrong. So why should we be surprised when someone uses one of our images, this kind of stuff has been going on forever.

I would bet that some of the photographers that are so upset by someone using one of their images, has committed one of these infringements I just mentioned, and didn’t think it was hurting anyone.

I know that some of the people that buy my e-books or videos will make a copy and pass it on to their photo buddies, it’s going to happen the same as it happens to all artists, musicians, movie makers, product makers, it’s reality.

So I know this stuff goes on and someone somewhere may use one of my images, and I’m not going to lose any sleep over it, it’s just part of being and artist, musician, movie makes, product maker.

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]]>https://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2016/12/06/no-watermarks-for-me-2/feed/8Mike Moats_DSC3075600Places to Shoot – Cline’s Country Antiqueshttps://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2016/12/05/places-to-shoot-clines-country-antiques/
https://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2016/12/05/places-to-shoot-clines-country-antiques/#commentsMon, 05 Dec 2016 14:12:28 +0000http://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/?p=22431]]>Last year I finally got a chance to visit and shoot a unique place called Cline’s Country Antiques in Mt Pleasant, North Carolina. My photo buddy in the Carolinas is Edgar Payne and he met up with me there to show me around. Here is a little history on Clines.

Donald Cline has always had a love for old things. Living on land that has been in his family for 200 years has nurtured his love and respect for the past. With diverse degrees from poultry science to economics, and even a time in the Navy Reserves, he wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to do with his life. He enjoyed attending the many rural auctions in the area and started collecting by the truck load. It quickly outgrew his home and barn. In 1975, the family decided to quit farming. With numerous barns now empty, Don collected even more. In 1977 he opened Clines Country Antiques on the old home place in Mt. Pleasant, North Carolina. In 1980 he left his teaching career to devote all his time “junk”.

In the 30 years that he has operated, he has been involved supplying decor and signage to many restaurants. Cline’s Antiques has provided set decor and props for many major movies such as “The Color Purple.”

In 1986, he co-authored “Buying and Selling Antiques: A Dealers Inside View.” He has been featured in numerous newspaper articles, magazines such as “Our State,” and on Home and Garden TV.

Cline hates to throw anything away. He knows that somewhere, someone may need or want that very thing. This is not a “prissy” place. Come dressed prepared to rummage and wander over acres of things.
Cline’s Antiques is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 8 a.m. till 6 p.m.

If you ever get a chance to visit this fun place do it, you will be amazed. Acres of land and buildings full of antiques and oddball stuff. Here are some of the images I shot just in a few hours. It’s place that would take many days to really explore and shoot.

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Edgar on the left, me on the right, and some of our friends behind us.

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]]>https://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2016/12/05/places-to-shoot-clines-country-antiques/feed/4Mike Moats_DSC2671_pe_DSC2665_pe_DSC2607_pe_DSC2641_pe_DSC2609_pe_DSC2656_pe_DSC2594600_DSC2616_pe_DSC2635_pe_DSC2660_pe_DSC2643_pe_DSC2589_pe_DSC2669_pe_DSC2637_pe_DSC2674_peBring on the Frosthttps://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2016/12/04/bring-on-the-frost/
https://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2016/12/04/bring-on-the-frost/#commentsSun, 04 Dec 2016 12:00:53 +0000http://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/?p=22429]]>The full force of winter as far as cold is not yet here in southeast Michigan, but it won’t be long now. We are getting the nice frosty mornings which does provide good subjects to shoot. I haven’t been able to get out lately for some new frosty shots but here are a couple from the past.

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]]>https://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2016/12/04/bring-on-the-frost/feed/6Mike Moats11-8-06 04721Podcasts for the Roadhttps://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2016/12/02/podcasts-for-the-road-2/
https://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2016/12/02/podcasts-for-the-road-2/#commentsFri, 02 Dec 2016 11:38:21 +0000http://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/?p=22425]]>Many of you know I drive to all my Macro Boot Camps and photo conferences all across the county. In order to keep myself sane through all the miles, I listen to music on my Ipod.

As much as I like the hundreds of songs I listen to, I start to get tired of it after about 8 hours on the road, so I will then turn on the radio and search for a local talk show in the area I’m passing through.

Although I know of all the free photography podcasts (many that I have been interviewed on) that are available for free through Itunes, I never thought to down load some and listen to them while I drive.

One of the best in photo podcasts is called “The Candid Frame”. I was honored to be one of their guest in podcast #149. The reason I was honor was that they have interview all the biggest names in pro photography.

So I down loaded a bunch of the pros that I was interested in listening to for my long drives.

I have never listened to any of theses podcasts, and even when I have been speaking at photo conferences, I generally never go to any of the other photographer’s presentation.

Just as I want my images to stand out from all other photographers, I’ve always wanted my workshops and presentation to be of my own style and way of doing things, and never wanted any outside influences from other pro photographers, so I avoided hearing other pros speak.

I finally decided to listen to some of these podcasts to learn more about some of the other pros and see what they had to say.

Much to my surprise, what I heard from every pro was right in line with what I was teaching and the philosophy I have with photography. Concentrate on learning about subject matter, compositions, and less worry about the equipment.

When all were asked what photographer they would recommend that listeners should check out, many refereed to photographers that had books geared to composition, and less on the technical side.

I liked what I heard because it reinforced what I believe and teach in my programs. So looking forward to hearing more podcasts, and it sure breaks up the long miles on the road.

http://picturedefense.com is a place where you can go now for help in dealing with someone who has stolen one of your photos on the web. They walk you through the steps to correct the problem. check them out.

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]]>https://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2016/12/01/has-someone-stole-your-image/feed/0Mike MoatscoverMore on Making Money as a Nature Photographerhttps://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2016/11/30/more-on-making-money-as-a-nature-photographer-2/
https://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2016/11/30/more-on-making-money-as-a-nature-photographer-2/#commentsWed, 30 Nov 2016 09:56:00 +0000http://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/?p=22411]]>Two days ago my post on making money selling your photos drew an amazing amount of interest. On most blog post I would get three to four hundred views, but on the making money post, it had over two thousand views. It shows just how many photographers are looking to make money with their photos. I get that, because I am one of those people making money with my photography. I found a quote on the state of the nature photography business by a very famous established wildlife photographer named Jim Brandenburg. Here is Jim’s bio and following that will be his quote.

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Minnesota native Jim Brandenburg traveled the globe as a photographer with National Geographic magazine for over three decades. He has done assignment work and has been published in numerous national and international publications including the New York Times, Life, Time, Audubon, Smithsonian, Natural History, GEO, Modern Maturity, BBC Wildlife, Outdoor Photographer, National Wildlife, and Outside.

His career with the National Geographic Society resulted in 23 magazine stories, several television features and many National Geographic books. His November 1997 National Geographic magazine feature, “North Woods Journal,” was—according to editor William Allen—“the most photographs the magazine has ever published in one feature in its entire history … and by the way, using the least amount of film.” The bestseller Chased by the Light elaborates on Brandenburg’s experiences during the 90 days. Brandenburg produced a sequel, titled Looking for the Summer. A sample of that project was featured in the June 2003 issue of National Geographic magazine and the November 2003 issue of Outdoor Photographer and was the first completely digital story featured in both magazines’ histories.

Brandenburg’s work has been featured on all major television and radio networks including Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt, Dateline NBC, Animal Planet, and the National Geographic Channel, as well as National Public Radio’s All Things Considered.

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Last year I was doing some exploring on the internet of different photographers and I found this quote by Brandonburg on his blog. It showed his frustration on the business of being a nature photographer. As big as he is as a nature photographer, I take it he is also feeling the pressure of all the incoming photographers looking to make money as nature photographers. Here is his quote.

“Business like Nature Photography has changed. It has become a bit bizarre. In the old days, when we were still using Kodachrome cameras, you really had to understand photography and be really good at it to survive. Nowadays, take someone with a moderate amount of talent but who has never made a picture in their lives before. They go to the camera store and buy even a cheap camera. In the same day that someone can make a magazine-worthy picture, if they have some sense of composition.

There are ten – even hundred – thousand photographers out there doing this and they have destroyed the Nature Photography business in terms of income. In terms of magazine photography, books and photo publishing, there are so many photographers that are willing to give their images away just to be published, just for the fun of it”.

I am like all of those photographers that came along in the digital age and started producing good quality images with the help of a digital camera and all the great software to correct mistakes, and improve images. In the days of film, as Brandenburg states, you had to really be a good photographer with the understanding on how to work the camera and getting it done right without any post processing help. So because photography has gotten so much easier to make great images, it has also lost the mystic of someone who made a great image in the film days. I see so many amateur photographers that produce images that are every bit as good as the best pro photographers. So of course they want to make some money as well.

The problem is as we have more photographers coming into the business it will cut down on sales of prints, workshops, book sales for everyone, just as it did to the stock photography business. I surely don’t have a right to complain about this because like all of you wanting to make some money, I did as well. I just hope I can keep making a living with my business for a few more years until I decide to retire.

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]]>https://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2016/11/29/macro-boot-camp-orlandofl/feed/2Mike MoatsIMG_1532600The Benefits of Macro Photographyhttps://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2016/11/29/the-benefits-of-macro-photography/
https://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2016/11/29/the-benefits-of-macro-photography/#respondTue, 29 Nov 2016 10:21:08 +0000http://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/?p=22398]]>After a few years photography landscapes, I found my calling, passion, and career as a macro photographer. It wasn’t my intentions to shoot macro as my interest in my new hobby in the beginning was to be a landscape photographer. I had studied all the great landscape images that were printed on the pages of “Outdoor Photographer” and decided that was what I wanted to shoot. With my limited time and budget to travel to the national parks where the best landscapes were, and only two weeks a year of vacation, it didn’t satisfy my desire and left me with fifty weeks of mundane landscape opportunities in the northern suburbs of Detroit. I wanted to get outdoors and shoot something, so I decided to look into macro, which gave me more subject matter though out the year during the times I wasn’t able to travel. It didn’t take long before I realized how much fun macro was with all the great artwork that Mother Nature provided to photograph. I began to realize all of the benefits of being a macro photographer, and have since dedicated all of my time to macro, and no longer shoot landscapes.

You don’t have to travel far as macro subjects are everywhere. You can find it at the local parks, in your own yard, and even shoot inside your home. I have four great parks within twenty minutes of my home, and probably seventy percent of my best images are photographed in those parks. I also have a few of my best selling images that were shot in my backyard. Most people have flower gardens in their yard, so they can walk outside their home and shoot. This close convenience saves on the high cost of fuel and wear and tear on our vehicles, and saves on time as we can shoot when we just have an hour or two available. In the winter here in Michigan I do most of my shooting indoors, so I buy flower from the local florist, go online to websites that sell feathers, mounted butterflies, sea shells, slab agates, which all can be arranged into artistic compositions.

You can shoot with just one lens. You don’t need a whole arsenal of lenses for macro photography, I got by with one lens for seven years before I added on to my stable of lenses. I shot for those first seven years using a macro lens in the 180mm range. If you are starting out as a macro photographer and limited on funds, a mid range focal length lens like the Tamron 90mm will work great for all purposes. If you plan to shoot live subjects such as butterflies, dragonflies, and other small critters that will flee as you approach to close, go with the longer focal length lens like Tamron’s 180mm. If you like to handhold your camera, try the light and fast shooting Tamron 60mm macro lens. For macro photography plan on shooting the majority of your shots with your camera mounted on a good study tripod and ballhead.

Subject matter changes every month. With the four seasons, we have an ever-changing environment month by month and sometimes day by day. I can revisit the same areas every couple weeks and find new subjects. It’s a constant cycle evolving from life to death. Depending on where you live, your seasons may vary and the environment may be totally different from the rest of the country. Learn about the subjects and life cycles of the plants and critters in your area, and make sure you are in the field when subjects come into season.

Shoot any time of day. Landscape and wildlife photographers have limited control over lighting and tend to shoot early morning and late evening which offers the best light. Because of the small subjects macro photographers work with, we have the ability to control our light by using diffusers and reflectors, so we can shoot any time of the day. I carry a 12” diffuser which I use to control harsh overhead light or sunlight from hitting my subjects, and a 12” silver/gold reflector for bouncing light into shaded areas of a subject.

More Creativity. One of the challenges as a macro photographer is working with depth of field. Because we are shooting very close to our subjects, the depth of field is very shallow causing lots of out of focus areas in our photos. The closer we get to the subject, the less that will be in focus. We can use this shallow depth of field to our advantage in creating artistic compositions. If you like soft focus dream like images, shoot in the lower f/stop range, and use this shallow depth of field to produce some beautiful artwork. If you have a subject that may have some interesting lines or textures that you may what to show off, you can set your f/stop in the highest numbers and bring everything into focus. So we have the ability to get everything in focus and also use the shallow depth of field to be more creative.

Your own personal art. Your own personal art is one of my favorite benefits. Every image that you view on my website is an original. They are subjects that were present for only a brief moment in time, until the environment erased them forever. None of the images that I have can be reproduced again because the subjects do not exists anymore. Mountains, rivers, lakes, are all there day after day and can be photographed over and over by many, many photographers, but my subjects have been eliminated by Mother Nature and are images that I can call my own originals.

Each year more and more nature photographers discover the benefits of macro. Take some time and explore all the local parks and your own backyard and enjoy the fun of macro photography.

Here is a quote from Pop Photo.

“The advent of digital cameras brought on a new era in photography and it’s a prolific one. The number of photos we take each year has sky rocketed. In fact, in a recent presentation by Yahoo!, it was claimed that as many as 880 BILLION photos will be taken in 2014 if we continue on the current trend. That’s a lot.”

880 Billion photos taken, wow, is it any wonder why we have a hard time selling our photos. Or if we are able to sell, it’s less then what we may have sold in the past.

Everyone has a camera or a camera phone, and with digital the ability to take better quality pictures has been possible with the easy to use equipment, and the amazing tools for processing the images.

So many people into photography now trying to sell their images through a websites, galleries, art shows, on the walls of coffee houses, restaurants, banks, hospitals, and these are just some of the places we see people trying to sell their photos. Some use online sites, like Fine Art America, Smugmug, Etsy, and other sites that provide a place to display and sell your images.

I’ve been in the business of selling my images in many of these ways over the last 12 years, and have gotten away from selling my photos as it takes a lot of effort for the little bit of sales.

I’ve always said that if you want to sell volumes of your photos, it happens best in the art show business. But my last two years that I attended art shows I had seen a big drop in sales, and dropped out because the efforts were not worth the sales I was making. Photographers in that business I know still work at it and get by, but it’s a tough business these days.

Some say it’s the economy, and there is some of that going on, but I think there are a few other reasons. a few years ago when I was in the art shows, most photographers were selling large sized gallery wraps for $400 to $600 and our customers could go to Ikea, Kirkland, Home Goods, Marshall, Walmart, and buy the same size gallery wraps for $150 and less, and when that started to happen I saw a drop in our sales. You may say what those stores are selling are not as good image wise as the photographers are producing in the art shows, and they may not be quite as good, but for most people that are spending their hard earned dollars they’re good enough. Everyone has a camera now a days and since digital, they can take some good quality images, so they may be saying my images look good enough to hang on the walls. When families would buy new homes they typically were buying a larger home, so they had more wall space to fill, so they bought wall art. For many years in the midwest, home sales dropped and no one was buying new homes and builders stopped building new subdivisions, so we saw a drop in sales when that was happening. So it may be a combination of these things that has cause the drop in sales. It’s also supply and demand, to much supply being offered and lower demand to purchase.

In the art show business it has always been that jewelry had the most applicants applying to each art show. Photography now draws about the same applicants as jewelry, and the shows offer less spaces for photography than jewelry, so harder to get into the shows with more competition.

Selling online through a website has been a big bust. In the first few years on my website I had a cart system to sell my images and after a few years of basically no sales, I disabled the cart system, and just let people know if they wanted to buy, contact me. This year I have not sold one photo from my website.

You hear photographers saying to hang your photos on the walls of coffee houses, restaurants, banks, hospitals, offices, in hopes of making sales. I have tried all these and the sales were pretty non existences. You might get lucky and sell a couple, but you’re not going to make big money this way.

On a daily basis someone asks me about getting into the business of selling their photos, and I tell them of my experiences and say not to get your hopes to high.

Sometimes people will think that they are not good photographers because they are not selling, and that is just not the case, as very few people I know that are great photographers are making much selling their photos.

As a pro photographer if selling my images was doing well, I would still be into it.

If you sell stock photography you have also seen your sales drastically reduced due to the lower cost micro stock sites. And why has the prices been reduced to such low costs, because everyone has a camera and can produce quality images and can easily upload them to these stock sites, and they are willing to sell at a lower cost. So as photography has become easier to do, and easier to get the images out there, the supply of images has gone way up and the prices going downward, making it harder to justify the time for the return.

Now of course as in all things in life there are exception to the rule, and I’m sure there are still a few photographers doing well selling their photos or selling in the stock photography business, but they are rare in comparison to the ones that tried and failed.

Good luck if you attempt it, but as I said, don’t get your hopes to high. Be realistic.

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]]>https://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2016/11/27/before-and-after-67/feed/0Mike Moats_DSC3621orig_DSC3621600More Black Friday / Cyber Monday Saleshttps://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2016/11/26/more-black-friday-cyber-monday-sales/
https://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2016/11/26/more-black-friday-cyber-monday-sales/#commentsSat, 26 Nov 2016 18:53:20 +0000http://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/?p=22389]]>More big sales, this is the head and tripod I use, and the best combo for macro photography.

Hey Mike, have your followers contact me for specials on the new Tamron 150–600 lens g2 and Tamron 16-300. These two lenses will have great pricing for Black Friday / Cyber Monday, they can inquire about other Tamron lens for great pricing.

Have them send me a email to digitalguygary@wbhunt.com

]]>https://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2016/11/25/black-friday-savings-on-tamron-lenses/feed/2Mike MoatsHappy Thanksgivinghttps://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2016/11/24/happy-thanksgiving-2/
https://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2016/11/24/happy-thanksgiving-2/#commentsThu, 24 Nov 2016 11:12:12 +0000http://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/?p=22384]]>Hope you all have tons of fun on this Thanksgiving Day, and here is a feather of the bird we traditionally chow down on today. Happy Turkey Day.

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]]>https://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2016/11/24/happy-thanksgiving-2/feed/2Mike Moats30Black Friday Sale at Topaz – 50% off Collectionhttps://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2016/11/23/black-friday-sale-at-topaz-50-off-collection/
https://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/2016/11/23/black-friday-sale-at-topaz-50-off-collection/#respondWed, 23 Nov 2016 00:32:44 +0000http://tinylanscapes.wordpress.com/?p=22382]]>Take advantage of the best pricing of the year on the complete lineup of Topaz products, with 50% off the Complete Collection through the end of November. Whether you want amazing photo effects or technically perfect images, Topaz helps you create the looks you love faster than ever.

What is the Collection?
With the recent addition of Topaz Texture Effects 2, Impression 2, and Glow 2, the Complete Collection includes all 17 products, which individually would cost over $1000. We normally offer the Complete Collection at 50% off. However, until the end of November you can take an additional 50% off (meaning you pay 25% of the price of individual plugins) for the collection and collection upgrades.

What is a Collection upgrade?
If you’ve already purchased an individual product (or several products) from Topaz in the past, our system already discounts the collection upgrade price. As long as you’re signed into your account, you can get an additional 50% off your custom collection upgrade pricing through the end of November. Whether you’re just starting or looking to expand your collection, there is never a better time to buy!]]>